BOSTON – As the hours to the trade deadline tick away, the words ‘baseball’ and ‘business’ will likely be uttered in conjunction several times.

But then it comes to a player like Jon Lester, who has been with one organization for more than a decade since being drafted. A team's second-round pick developing into the ace of their staff, helping them win two World Series, is about as perfect, and rare, of scenario as conceivable.

That's when the business of baseball becomes muddied.

Lester’s grown up, in more ways than one, in this city, under this pitching coach-turned-manager.

The relationship between Lester and John Farrell goes back seven years to Farrell’s first season guiding Boston's arsenal of arms, one that also included Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. It was that summer of 2007 that Lester returned to the mound after an 11-month hiatus from battling and beating non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Four months later, he was on the mound starting a decisive Game 4 of the 2007 World Series in Colorado.

A typically stoic Farrell allowed himself to reflect on his long relationship with his team’s ace.

“I hold onto a timeline of experiences with him,” Farrell said prior to Wednesday's game. “You see a young guy come up, you see him mature, you see him accomplish certain challenges fundamentally, you see him play out on the field and you share with him all the successes he’s brought to not only this team, this organization but certainly himself.”

Farrell spoke of Lester more like a son than a player. The two have been spotted during batting practice the last few days talking at length in what may be their final conversations together on the same team.

Farrell, fiercely loyal to his players much like his predecessor Terry Francona, elected Lester to the American League All-Star roster earlier this month as one of his manager’s selections.

“It runs deeper just because of being his pitching coach for a number of years so there’s a unique set of circumstances here,” Farrell said. “I couldn’t be more proud of watching the way he’s matured and the talent that he is. To know (his wife) Farrah and their two sons, and to see how they’ve grown as a family, how he’s grown as a man, it’s been really awesome to witness.”

Since the Red Sox tossed him a softball contract of four years, $70 million in April, Lester has fielded questions nearly every start about the negotiations, which until this week, the team vowed would be put on hold until the offseason.

Lester has continually shot down any queries sent his way regarding the contract and has made it known he wants to stay in Boston.

“He’s been a model for all that’s been asked of him,” Farrell said. “The potential distractions, how he's tried to keep that to a minimum from his teammates, himself. He’s been respectful to not only Ben and our owners, but I think everyone who walks into this ballpark has a sense of what Jon Lester’s about. He’s genuine, he’s forthright, he’s one hell of a pitcher."